National Briefing / PENNSYLVANIA

A witness to Gettysburg falls

One of the few remaining "witness trees" to the Battle of Gettysburg has been felled by a storm, National Park Service officials said.

It stood just 150 feet from the platform on which President Lincoln delivered his most famous speech.

The huge honey locust tree on Cemetery Hill fell Thursday evening.

The tree, which stood on the right side of the Union lines, "was there as a silent witness -- to the battle, to the aftermath, to the burials, to the dedication of the cemetery," park historian John Heiser said.